It is known that when an endoprobe is used operatively in ophthalmic surgery, assuring adequate illumination of the interior of the eye and the ocular fundus is problematic. Therefore, in addition to the surgical endoprobe tool, frequently an illumination device is guided via a second puncture. This further complicates the surgery and the burden on the patient increases significantly. It is therefore customary to use endoprobes that represent a combination of laser light and illuminating light. In general the laser light is guided to the treatment site via a laser fiber and the illumination light via one or more optical fibers that are arranged parallel to the laser fiber within a stainless steel cannula. Both fibers terminate at the distal end of the endoprobe.
One disadvantage of this known operative use of an endoprobe in ophthalmic surgery is that the illuminated area of the operation in the eye depends on the distance to the treatment site. That is, the closer a surgeon comes with the endoprobe to the retina of an eye, the less illuminated the surrounding area is and in addition the surgeon's vision is limited. Known from DE 10 118 464 A1 is an electrical probe for microsurgery, especially ophthalmic surgery, in which the probe comprises an outer and an inner electrode as well as a light guide, the inner electrode possesses an electrode end surface having a contour and projects beyond a front end of the light guide, or embedded in the light guide closes therewith and in a cylindrical embodiment of the electrodes and the light guide the hollow space remaining between the electrodes and the light guide is used as a suction channel for suctioning tissue particles. Known from DE 692 31 402 T1 is a surgical laser probe that emits a laser light beam in connection with an optical element that has a light-permeable rod with a longitudinal axis and a reflecting surface that is inclined against the longitudinal axis of the rod in order to reflect the laser light beam out of the optical element along an exit path so that visible light that propagates from the light spot on a tissue along the exit path to the reflecting surface passes through the reflecting surface and is visible along an observation axis.